.jpg)
Wheelock, Kebryl Chandler And Boys’ Relay Team Win Titles
The Parry McCluer High School boys track and field team placed third of 12 teams at the Region 1C meet, while the PM girls finished ninth of 13 last Wednesday at Giles High School in Pearisburg. The Fighting Blues will send 11 individuals and the boys’ 4 X 800-meter relay team to the Class 1 state meet, which is taking place Friday and Saturday at the James Madison University Track and Field Complex in Harrisonburg.
The top four individuals and relay teams, as well as those qualified by distance or time, advanced to the Class 1 state meet.
The PM boys won the 4 X 400-meter relay in 3:44.37, beating runner-up Giles (3:45.39) by about a second. Team members for the Blues were seniors Evan Cook and Kovyk Chandler, sophomore Josh Cooper and freshman Kebryl Chandler. The Blues qualified in the relay for the state meet, but they have chosen to just compete in one relay, the 4 X 800-meter relay, in which they broke the school record in early May. The PM boys did not race in the 4 X 800-meter relay at the Region 1C meet.
Individually, the PM boys took the top four spots in the 800-meter run. Kebryl Chandler won in 2:02.21, Kovyk Chandler placed second in 2:03.33, Cooper finished third in 2:04.52, and sophomore Logan Wheelock came in fourth in 2:07.5, a personal record (PR) by about two seconds.
Wheelock won the 1600meter run in 4:55.41, with Auburn’s Blake Brown placing second in 4:57.98. Reviewing Wheelock’s race, PM head coach Chris Poluikis said, “We worked on his closing speed, and he ran negative splits the whole race. Every lap got faster, and the last lap was the fastest, by far.”
Cook, who had not qualified by time for the state meet, qualified in both of his sprints, placing second in the 200-meter dash in 23.62 seconds and finishing fourth in the 400-meter dash in 53.23, both PRs.
Freshman Sam Carpenter qualified in the 3200meter run, placing fourth in 11:46.44.
The two PM girls running had both qualified by time in the 3200-meter run, so they ran other distances for speedwork. Senior Jasmine De Souza placed seventh in the 800-meter run in 2:50.48 and eighth in the 1600-meter run in 6:18.62. Sophomore Kyra Lee placed ninth in the 1600-meter run in 6:21.35.
For the throwers, PM throwing coach Danny Cole said it was “a very good Region 1C meet.”
Leading the PM boys was sophomore Griffin Harlow, placing second in the shot put with a PR toss of 49 feet, 3.5 inches, trailing only Auburn’s Kobi Bonds’s winning throw of 52-9.5. Harlow had already qualified in the discus, in which he placed eighth with a heave of 119-5.
Junior Rayshan Richardson had already qualified in the discus, in which he placed seventh with a throw of 1197. In the shot put, Richardson finished seventh with a toss of 41-11.5.
For the PM girls, junior Kamilah Richardson qualified in both events, placing second in the shot put with a toss of 36-8.25 and fourth in the discus with a heave of 8510, both PRs.
Junior Keeli Wheeler completed her season by placing eighth in the discus with a throw of 72-3 and 11th in the shot put with a toss of 24-9.25, both PRs. Cole said Wheeler “improved a great bit from last season. If she gets her spin and glide down, she should be able to qualify for states next year.”
The Blues will be taking three throwers to the state meet, the most they’ve ever taken. Last year, Kamilah Richardson was the Blues’ lone thrower to qualify for the state meet, where she placed 10th in the shot put.
Looking ahead, Cole said, “We are hitting PRs right now, and it’s a very good time of year to do so. We’ve got a full week of throwing ahead of us, and hopefully we can get more PRs at the state meet, which will place our kids very well overall. I’m very excited to see what next week brings.”
The PM boys scored 80 points to finish behind only regional champion Auburn (178) and runner-up Narrows (104). Rounding out the top five were Giles (77) and Fort Chiswell (61).
With just four athletes competing, the PM girls tallied 17 points to finish a spot ahead of Bath County (15). Auburn won the girls’ meet with 189 points, George Wythe (87) placed second, and Giles (80) finished third. Completing the top five were Narrows (64) and Galax (52).
The Class 1 state meet will begin on Friday with field events at 12:30 p.m., followed by the 4 X 800-meter relay, starting with the girls’ race at 1 p.m., followed by the boys’ race at 1:45. Throws taking place Friday afternoon will be the boys’ shot put and the girls’ discus, as well as the boys’ 200-meter dash. The rest of the races and throws involving the Blues will take place on Saturday, starting with the 3200-meter run at 9 a.m., with the girls’ race followed by the boys’ race.
Kovyk Chandler, who won the boys’ 3200-meter run and placed second in the 1600meter run last year, will be focusing on the 1600-meter run, which is scheduled to take place around 1 p.m. on Saturday. Later in the afternoon, he’ll compete in the 800-meter run.
